Karl Trabalski (16 May 1923 – 5 December 2009) was a German politician and former Member of Parliament (

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, SPD). His father was Stanislaw Trabalski, the last SPD mayor of Leipzig in 1946. He is the grandson of Franciszek Trąbalski and Richard Lipinski.

Life and career

Trabalski was born in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and attended the Herder upper secondary school in Leipzig. During the Nazi era, he was the only student who did not join the Hitler Youth. After completing high school, he studied philosophy,

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, business and sociology at the University of Leipzig. However, when the communists arrested his father without cause in 1948, he abandoned his studies and as the eldest son of the family, provided for the family. Because of his social-democratic views and statements regarding the Soviet Union, Trabalski was to be sentenced in a show trial. However, he left as a political refugee in 1951, went to the West, and completed his studies in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, graduating with a master's in business administration. After graduation, he worked for the German Trade Union Confederation. He then worked as a business economist in industry and the housing sector. From 1960 to 1988, he was a member of the Düsseldorf-Ost housing association board. In 1952 he joined the Trade, Banking and Insurance Union. Trabalski died in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

in 2009.

Deputy

From 24 July 1966 to 30 May 1990, Trabalski was a member of the state parliament of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. He was directly elected in

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

45 (Düsseldorf II); only in the 8th legislative period did he enter the state parliament via the state list (list position 20) of his party. On 5 March 1969, 23 May 1979, and 23 May 1984, he was a member of the Federal Assembly for the election of the federal president.

Other

Trabalski also gained attention through his work as head of the Leipzig Housing and Construction Company. As general manager, he came in the crossfire of the Social Democratic city government and the CDU board. Two weeks after firing Trabalski, mayor Hinrich Lehmann-Grube (SPD) said: "We can not accuse Mr. Trabalski of wrongful conduct."

Volunteering

*1958–2003 – workers' welfare association offices and activities, Düsseldorf
He was a member of the workers' welfare association for over 45 years. In 1992, after the death of his wife , he became the chair of the local association in Gerresheim. In 2003 he was appointed honorary chairman of the local association.
Influenced by his own experience, Trabalski was committed to helping displaced persons, refugees and immigrants. For this, he was awarded the

Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia () is a civil Order (honour), order of merit, of the Germany, German States of Germany, State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded on 11 March 1986. It is ...

. *1966–1986 –

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (GRC) ( ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. During the Nazi era, the German Red Cross was under the control of the Nazi Party and played a role in supporting the regime's policies, including the exclusion ...

, Düsseldorf

References

External links

Karl Trabalski
(Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in the Archives of Social Democracy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Trabalski, Karl 1923 births 2009 deaths Politicians from Leipzig Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia German people of Polish descent